Knockouts

To win a sit and go, you have to knock out at least one opponent, that being the opponent you face when you get to heads up play. Of course, it's possible, though not likely, to knock out every opponent. Personally, until heads up play, I prefer other people to do the knocking out :-) Sometimes, multiple players get knocked out on a single hand. I think the most players I've seen get knocked out like this is three. Last night, in the second tournament I played, two players got knocked out on hand 19. That left just three of us, and I had a strong feeling I'd make it to heads up play. I did :-) Not only that, I ended up winning.

buy_in entry players hands place winnings

 45000  5000       6    93     2    94500
 45000  5000       6    71     1   175500

delta: $170,000
Sit and go no limit hold'em balance: $1,746,800
balance: $9,433,379

$50,000 fingerfehler

I figured out a long time ago that it's really important always to pick the same buy in level when playing sit and gos; if you don't adhere to this, you're playing an apples and oranges game where losses can be disproportionately large. Unfortunately, this strategy can't prevent the occasional fingerfehler. That is, when trying to pick a sit and go to play, occasionally you'll pick the wrong buy in level by mistake. This happened to me last night, and I know exactly how it happened. As I've mentioned before, you want to stay away from hyper sit and gos like the plague, and only play the turbos. So when scanning the available sit and gos, you're looking for two things:

1. the correct buy in level
2. a turbo tournament

When you order the tournaments by buy in level, and have scrolled to the appropriate section of the lobby, you're mainly focusing at this point on hyper vs. turbo. When you find a turbo, if you forget to check the buy in level before selecting it, you could end up picking a turbo from the next higher or next lower buy in level by mistake. Last night, when selecting my first sit and go, I mistakenly chose a turbo with a $90,000 buy in and $10,000 entry fee, instead of one with my normal $45,000 buy in and $5,000 entry fee. I came in fifth in that one, so my fingerfehler ending up costing me $50,000. Ouch!

buy_in entry players hands place winnings

 90000 10000       6     6     5        0
 45000  5000       6    55     2    94500
 45000  5000       6    45     3        0
 45000  5000       6    28     5        0
 45000  5000       6    81     1   175500

delta: $-30,000
Sit and go no limit hold'em balance: $1,576,800
balance: $9,263,379

Profit stop sign

Last night, for the third time in the last five sessions, I had a minimum profit three sit and go session. Getting a single first place with no second places in the first three sit and gos of a session is a true profit stop sign. You really have to think long and hard about playing a fourth session in this situation. If you don't play a fourth, you've guaranteed yourself a decent profit of $25,500 on the night. If you do play a fourth, you have a decent chance of falling back into the red, and if you do, there's no guarantee you'll get back into the black. An amusing side note about this profit stop sign is that it doesn't even matter which of the three sit and gos you won; your decision about whether or not to continue should be the same in each case (and that decision should be "no" :-)).

buy_in entry players hands place winnings

 45000  5000       6    42     5        0
 45000  5000       6    63     1   175500
 45000  5000       6    52     4        0

delta: $25,500
Sit and go no limit hold'em balance: $1,606,800
balance: $9,293,379

A hell of a streak

As predicted, boasting about my streak of sit and go no limit hold'em sessions with at least one first place finish put an abrupt end to it. However, that's not the streak I'm referring to in the title of this post. In last night's session, I finally had another last place finish. That put an end to a streak of 55 straight sit and gos without one. That's a hell of a streak! It obliterated my next best such streak, which was a mere 33.

How did I hit the felt on my last place finish? Let me check the archives ... ah yes. A painful hand. I'd been dealt a pair of jacks, the flop came 4h Td Kh, and the turn came Jh. I went all in, and got snap called. The same turn card that had given me a set had also given an opponent a straight. My only hope was for the board to pair on the river, but alas, it didn't.

buy_in entry players hands place winnings

 45000  5000       6    23     5        0
 45000  5000       6     5     6        0
 45000  5000       6    41     2    94500
 45000  5000       6     8     5        0
 45000  5000       6    60     3        0
 45000  5000       6    34     4        0
 45000  5000       6    81     2    94500

delta: $-161,000
Sit and go no limit hold'em balance: $1,581,300
balance: $9,267,879

Five spot

Last night, I had another minimum profit session; I played three sit and gos, and won one of them. I have a nice little streak going; I've won at least one sit and go in my last five sessions. Call it a five spot :-) Of course, it's bad luck to talk about a streak while it's still in progress, but I feel like crowing a little. I did some research and discovered that the maximum number of consecutive sit and go no limit hold'em sessions I've had where I've had at least one first place finish is six, so I could tie that record tonight.

buy_in entry players hands place winnings

 45000  5000       6    30     4        0
 45000  5000       6    13     5        0
 45000  5000       6    70     1   175500

delta: $25,500
Sit and go no limit hold'em balance: $1,742,300
balance: $9,428,879

In the sweetness

Last night, I was in the sweetness again. It was another one two session (or, more precisely, another two one session). In the past, I made it a rule never to quit playing when I was still in the sweetness; the idea was to keep playing until I fell out of it. My thinking was that I should ride the wave as far as I could, to see just how much profit I could amass. These days, I feel fine about quitting while still in the sweetness. You could say I'm more of a profit-taker now :-)

buy_in entry players hands place winnings

 45000  5000       6    41     2    94500
 45000  5000       6    77     1   175500

delta: $170,000
Sit and go no limit hold'em balance: $1,716,800
balance: $9,403,379

10 outcomes

Last night, I played 3 sit and gos. There are 10 possible outcomes when you do this. Here they are, in descending order, when the buy in is $45,000, the entry fee is $5,000, the first place prize is $175,500, and the second place prize is $94,500:

 $376,500 3 0
 $295,500 2 1
 $214,500 1 2
 $201,000 2 0
 $133,500 0 3
 $120,000 1 1
 $ 39,000 0 2
 $ 25,500 1 0
 $-55,500 0 1
$-150,000 0 0

The number in the second column is the number of first place finishes, and the number in the third column is the number of second place finishes. As it turned out, I made a profit, but it was the minimum profit you can make in this scenario. I decided to quit while I was ahead :-)

buy_in entry players hands place winnings

 45000  5000       6    58     3        0
 45000  5000       6    45     4        0
 45000  5000       6    58     1   175500

delta: $25,500
Sit and go no limit hold'em balance: $1,546,800
balance: $9,233,379